The Spirit of Tasmania

Happened to be in Port Melbourne to witness this panel-van worthy sunset and the Spirit of Tasmania.

Got me thinking about Tasmania. The conflicting beauty and violence of the place. The beautiful Cataract Gorge in Launceston contrasting with the blood red whaling history of Wineglass Bay.

There are conflicting views of how Wineglass Bay came to be named. The guidebooks are all about how the bay is shaped like a wine glass. Right. Then dig deeper and it’s about the colour of the water in the wine glass shaped bay after whale slaughters.

| Port Melbourne and the Spirit of Tasmania, 2011 |

Tasmania’s Freycinet peninsula was once the home of the Pydairrerme people. Then along came the American whalers in the 1820s. They would do their work and the bay was dyed red with blood – like a full bodied red wine in a glass.

Tonight they’ll probably serve a full bodied red wine on the Spirit of Tasmania.